When an English teacher recently mentioned she was about to launch a research project on famous African-Americans, I asked her for more information. It would be six slides, she said, and they could choose from among 30 people. On each slide, students would answer a question and include an image, then present their answers to the class.
In the past, I would have asked her the following Project Planning Questions to ensure that the work was as meaningful and rigorous as possible:
| PROJECT PLANNING QUESTIONS |
| —What are your objectives? Which skills are students bringing to this project, and which need to be taught? —What questions must students address? Do they begin with HOW/WHY, to ensure that students must EXPLAIN their answers? (When you ask WHAT questions or give students TOPICS, they tend to merely copy and paste information from the Internet.) —How will you teach students to do the research? They must learn to evaluate sources and cite properly. —What are your specific expectations for all aspects of the project? Do you have an exemplar? What is your timeline for each step of the work? How will you ensure students are completing the work efficiently and effectively? How will you provide feedback and support throughout the development process? —How will you evaluate their slides and oral presentation? How will you and their peers provide feedback? How will you hold students accountable for taking notes and/or providing feedback on their peers’ presentations? |
Eventually we would get to those questions, but first we needed to consider the elephant in the room: How long would it take AI to complete this project?
We tweaked her questions, then I punched this prompt into Bard (as of 2/8/24, now called Gemini):
“You are an expert on Barack Obama. Create 6 slides on him. Answer these questions: 1) What is this person best known for? 2) How did this person prepare for his accomplishments? 3) What events in his life inspired him to do big things? 4) What are some of his biggest accomplishments? 5) How do you think future generations will remember him, and why? 6) If you could interview him, what are 3 questions you would ask?”
It took about 15 seconds for Bard to generate THIS RESPONSE. The results were fine, but superficial. For example, here’s Slide 1:
| Slide 1: The First African American President –Image: Iconic photo of Obama raising his hand after being sworn in. –Text: Barack Obama’s most recognizable achievement: becoming the first African American President of the United States, breaking down racial barriers and inspiring millions. |
How could we avoid students using AI to do this very thing? We could not. They have ChatGPT and Bard on their phones and home computers. They could covertly run this prompt and finish their projects in maybe 15 minutes (allowing time for them to find and insert images—and PS, Bard now generates IMAGES, too!), then spend several days in class futzing around, pretending to do work while watching YouTube videos.
Instead, we decided to LEAN INTO the use of AI. Let students use this prompt, I suggested, then push them to dig deeper into the slides by asking HOW/WHY questions about the AI-generated content.
I added this question to that Bard thread:
“For slides 1-5 above, can you please add 2-3 How/Why questions to spark further research about the content on the slide? For example, regarding Slide 4: ‘Why was healthcare reform needed?’ Please rerun slides 1-6 with the new questions added to slides 1-5.”
Again, in 15 seconds, I received THIS USEFUL RESPONSE. (Note: It neglected to include Slide 6, so I had to re-prompt it for that. Here is THAT RESPONSE.)
The teacher now had some decisions to make. The work to answer the questions on any ONE of the slides could be substantial. For example, here’s the revised version of Slide 1:
| Slide 1: The First African American President –Image: Iconic photo of Obama raising his hand after being sworn in. –Text: Barack Obama’s most recognizable achievement: becoming the first African American President of the United States, breaking down racial barriers and inspiring millions. —Speaker Notes Barack Obama’s election in 2008 was a watershed moment in American history. It shattered racial barriers and demonstrated the power of hope and inclusion. But his presidency was also about much more than just his identity. Let’s explore the factors that contributed to his historic victory and the significance of his election. —How/Why Questions: What were the key social, political, and economic factors that contributed to Obama’s election?How did Obama’s campaign message of “hope and change” resonate with voters?What is the broader significance of Obama’s election beyond the breaking of racial barriers? |
With the newly added questions, students now had a lot to explain, and they would need to sharpen their research skills. AI couldn’t do everything. But it had provided a useful starting point. With that, we turned back to the Project Planning Questions. This was just the beginning!
PS: For more AI support, check out The Literacy Cookbook’s A.I. TIPSpage. The Literacy Cookbook Website offers 2,000-plus teacher-friendly tools. As a bonus for TLC Blog followers, here is the 50%-off discount code for yearlong access to The Literacy Cookbook Website: TLCBOOK50 (Note: ALL CAPS).
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